Aqua Publica Europea (APE) is the European Association of Public Water Operators.
Our mission is to promote public water management at the European and international levels.
APE’s members are fully publicly owned utilities providing drinking water and wastewater treatment services to over 90 million European citizens.
We are recruiting a Senior Policy Officer to join the association’s Secretariat in Brussels.
The Senior Policy Officer will be responsible for conducting advocacy activities on key policy files for the association, as well as supporting the implementation of relevant initiatives at EU and international levels.
Main responsibilities:
- Engage with Aqua Publica’s members to collect inputs and information, and develop and advocate the association’s positions before EU and international institutions.
- Monitor, analyse and communicate policy developments relevant to the activities of Aqua Publica Europea and its members.
- Maintain and develop a network of relevant stakeholders.
- Represent the association in formal and informal meetings, and report to members and to the Management Board.
- Contribute to the conception and organisation of internal and external meetings and events, in collaboration with the APE team.
- Support initiatives aimed at strengthening members’ capacities and fostering their participation in relevant international fora.
- Contribute to the general management activities of the association.
Profile
Essential:
- University degree in EU policies or another field relevant to Aqua Publica’s mission or the activities of its members.
- Three to five years of professional experience in European public affairs, or in another field relevant to the mission of Aqua Publica.
- Good understanding of the EU policy framework for water and sanitation, environmental policy, and the European Green Deal.
- Proactive attitude and ability to engage members in identifying policy priorities and to build relationships with relevant stakeholders.
- Strong ability to elaborate, present and defend policy positions.
- Capacity to translate complex or technical issues into concise and relevant information for different audiences (e.g. decision-makers, APE members).
- Excellent command of written and spoken English, and understanding of French.
- Outgoing personality, comfortable with public speaking and networking in different cultural contexts.
- Flexible team player, willing to support colleagues in various aspects of the association’s work (communication, administration, events).
- Initiative, creativity, and the ability to lead new projects.
- Availability to travel occasionally.
Desirable:
- Proficiency in other European languages (especially Italian, Spanish or German).
- Previous experience in a membership-based organisation.
- Knowledge of the water sector and/or issues specific to the public sector.
What we offer
The position is offered on a full-time basis and on the conditions of a contract under Belgian law (which includes holiday bonus and meal vouchers), coupled with other benefits: 13th month, additional vacation days, partial reimbursement of transportation costs (public transports), hospitalisation insurance.
APE will offer a salary in line with experience.
APE offers the possibility to partially work from home (to be arranged) but the candidate must commit to being officially registered in Belgium.
Recruitment process
Interested candidates should send their CV and a cover letter to info@aquapublica.eu by the 21/11/2025 (please also specify how you heard about this position).
Please note that we are unable to provide individual feedbacks and that only short-listed applicants will be contacted for the second stage of the recruitment process which will involve a written test and an interview. We expect to inform short-listed candidates by beginning of December.